182 Bar bury Castle, 



Such is a brief description of the ancient hill-fort of Beran Byrg, 

 one which merited, as well from its commanding- position, from the 

 depth of its works— the form of which is retained almost unimpaired 

 —or, again, from its historical interest, the place which was assigned 

 to it by Sir John Lubbock in the schedule to his Act for Protecting 

 Ancient Monuments. The side of the down at some little distance 

 to the east of Barbury is scored with ancient lines of partition, ap- 

 parently of gardens or other enclosures that bear evidence of the place 

 having been in early times frequented by a not inconsiderable popu- 

 lation. In case of the anticipation of danger, or of any sudden alarm, 

 this local population, as well as those inhabiting the chalk marl plateau 

 below, could repair within the ramparts for protection. 



Directly north, below the hill-fort and distant about half- a-mile, 

 are some large excavations in the ground, divided into two deep 

 somewhat rectangular troughs, and on the west of these a shallower 

 and rounded basin : the whole being enclosed by a ditch, and some 

 other works which may have carried a protecting fence in former 

 days. They appear to have enclosed ground occupied for residential 

 purposes. It is not easy to assign the object of these deep and ex- 

 tensive excavations. The first idea they suggest is that they were 

 reservoirs for water on a large scale, kept supplied in ancient days 

 on the old world " dew-pond " system. But they are very likely 

 comparatively modern; perhaps connected with some mansion or 

 religious house, such as tradition states to have been planted on this 

 site, but of which every other trace has disappeared, except a long 

 and once fine box hedge that ran as far as the road to Overtown. 



Below Barbury Castle, and between it and these hollows, is a 

 rectangular circumvallation with a very Roman aspect. It is an 

 enclosure with a ditch and vallum that must once have been a much 

 deeper and more defensive structure than it is now, for on digging 

 into the bottom of the foss on the north side, pottery and bones 

 and moved earth were met with to a depth of 3ft. below the present 

 level of the bottom. The eastern portion of this circumvallation 

 has been obliterated, but its position can be just traced. The interior 

 space is terraced in three shallow terraces running from east to west. 

 The space enclosed within the vallum measures 292ft. from N. to S., 



